The Director

The director of Luxembourg's General Department of Immigration was questioned as a suspect on Monday. The information was confirmed by Greens MP Meris Sehovic following a meeting of the relevant parliamentary committee. "One piece of information we received is that the director of Immigration was also questioned as a suspect in this affair."[1]

This is the same investigation that began in summer 2023. The same one that has already led to the dismissal of five staff members. The same one where authorities estimate around 200 third-country nationals may have entered Luxembourg illegally using forged documents and subsequently claimed social benefits. Five employees gone. Two hundred illegal entries. And now, the director himself.[1]

Two anonymous letters

The timeline is revealing. The first anonymous letter was addressed to the director himself at the end of 2022 or the start of 2023. The director then filed the first complaint. A second anonymous letter arrived in spring 2025, this one dated 31 March, sent by a so-called group of journalists, unsigned, giving an address on Rue d'Arlon. Interior Minister Léon Gloden received it on 1 April and reported it to the public prosecutor's office immediately.[1]

Between the first letter and the second, two years passed. During those two years, the director who filed the first complaint was also, according to the parliamentary committee, questioned as a suspect. The person who reported the crime is also a suspect in the crime. The investigation is ongoing since summer 2023. The first anonymous letter dates from the end of 2022. The director filed a complaint. Then nothing happened, or not enough happened, for two more years, until a second anonymous letter arrived from a group of journalists.[1]

"A small part of something bigger"

Gloden said he was first made aware of the case in April 2025. The Immigration Department itself filed initial reports with the police as early as January 2023. Three employees were dismissed in April 2025 following a search of the department's premises. One was remanded in custody. Two more were dismissed last week after further searches at the Immigration Department, the Ministry of Higher Education, several companies, and private residences.[1]

"We still don't fully know the scale of this affair today", Gloden said. "It was always assumed that we were a small part of something bigger. That's also what Mr Reiter made clear here: he too had been told that we were a small part of a much larger affair." The director, questioned as a suspect, told the committee that his own department was a small part of something bigger. The minister agrees. No one seems to know how big the something is.[1]

The arc

On July 9, the story broke: corruption investigation across three ministries, fake diplomas, forged visas. On July 10, ASTI called for full public disclosure. The same day, it emerged that the prosecutor general had flagged the information-sharing gap in 2023 and been ignored. On July 14, the director of Immigration was questioned as a suspect. Five days. Five dismissals. One director. Two hundred illegal entries. Two anonymous letters. One investigation that everyone agrees is a small part of something bigger.[1]

The "something bigger" is the part that has not yet been revealed.[1]